RSP Film Room Hangout: Iowa OT Brandon Scherff w/Lance Zierlein

Lance Zierlein of the Sideline View stops by and gives a clinic on evaluating tackle play.

If you want to say you learned something about football today (and it be a dramatic understatement), watch and learn from Zierlein in this fantastic hangout. Co-owner of The Sideline View, Zierlein teams with former NFL coaches and personnel managers to teach the fine points of playing the game.

Zierlein has an excellent game-to-game and play-to-play perspective about studying linemen and he shares a ton of excellent information on what to watch and why:

Why technique is so important to understand when evaluating players.

The why and how of having flat feet when delivering a punch.

Why tackles don’t want to “open the door” too early against edge rushers.

Why you shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from one bad rep or a bad game.

Reading stunts.

What is good one-arm technique in pass protection?

Examples of how linemen work in concern on pass protection and run blocking schemes.

Why size and strength matter so much for NFL linemen.

What is coachable about Scherff’s game?

Zierlein’s mini scouting report on Scherff.

Which current NFL players are good examples of players with strong technique.

For analysis of skill players in this year’s draft class, download the 2014 Rookie Scouting Portfolio – available now. Better yet, if you’re a fantasy owner the 56-page Post-Draft Add-on comes with the 2012 – 2014 RSPs at no additional charge. Best, yet, 10 percent of every sale is donated to Darkness to Light to combat sexual abuse. You can purchase past editions of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio for just $9.95 apiece.

Some things I notice from watching the tape on Scherff.
1. In pass protection, he has a tendency to move his inside foot (right foot) before moving his outside foot (left foot/kick foot). This is not good for a couple of reasons. The first is that if a strong DE gets off the ball quickly and catches Scherff in the position where he has moved his inside foot first and has not moved his outside foot first, more than likely that DE will run Scherff over because Scherff has his feet so close together that his base is very narrow and nobody is strong in that position. Another reason that doing this is bad is with a DE that is trying to “speed rush” or at least give the illusion that they are first rushing to the outside, by stepping with his inside foot first, he has already lost his chance to “cut off” the angle that the DE is trying to run to the QB (which is a straight line from the DE stance to the QB drop back). Like I said, this puts Scherff at a disadvantage and a OL first instinct when this happens is to swing that kick leg back and get turned completely perpendicular to the line of scrimmage which is not good and it swings open the gate to the QB (just like Lance said).

2. Some things I noticed with his run blocking is that there are multiple times where he crosses over his 2nd step over his 1st. Again, this is the same problem with moving your inside foot on pass pro first. By crossing over your feet, you narrow your base and you make it hard to not get teetered around.

3. I consistently notice this at almost every level of football except for the elite players, I consistently see OL not be inside with their pass protection punch. There are too many times that I see OL have their hands outside of the DL. When this happens, you really have to fight your way back into the shoulder pads chest area to gain control. This is why JJ Watt is such a beast in the NFL, his arms are so long that he can punch consistently into an OL chest and be the “inside man” and be in control of what he wants to do and not the Offensive Lineman.

The good thing is, all the above things are technique issues and can be coached up to increase consistency. His 2014 tape is probably better but these are the observations I saw from his 2013 Michigan State tape.

Last thing I want to say is that Scherff has elite strength and understanding of how to play offensive line. I think that is evident by his use of his hips and ability to run his feet up underneath of himself when engaged with a run defender. A lot of young/raw offensive lineman keep their hips and feet back and they fall off blocks or they don’t have the power to really finish blocks through the whistle.